LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

PRESENTED BY 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE ANGORA GOAT: 



ORIGIN, CULTURE AND PRODUCTS. 



By JOHN L. HAYES, 
w 

SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOOL MANUFACTURERS. 



From the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
Vol. XI, March 18, 1868. 



Y 

BOSTON : 
PRESS OF A. A. KINGMAN, 

MUSEUM OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, 

BERKELEY ETRKET. 

1868. 



,H4 



THE ANGORA GOAT. 



The Jardin des Plantes, the source and model of our Societies of 
Natural History, gave to the world not only Buffon and Cuvier, who, 
by their brilliant labors, won for the researches of the naturalist a 
place in the domain of science, before accorded only to studies of the 
imponderable elements, but two other scarcely less illustrious natural- 
ists, whose labors were inspired by the purpose of applying their 
favorite science to increase the material resources of man. To this 
idea France owes the Merino sheep with which Daubcnton endowed 
her, and the Imperial Society of Acclimatation, the creation of Geof- 
froy St. Hilaire, which aims to submit to practical study all the 
animals by whose acquisition the geographical zone of France can be 
advantageously augmented. Trusting that this Society may regard 
with favor the discussion of a subject akin to those which have re- 
ceived the attention of the great practical naturalists of France, I 
propose to submit a memoir upon the Angora Goat, the last acquisi- 
tion which our agriculture and manufactures have received from the 
animal kingdom. 

When we reflect that of the numerous species which compose the 
animal kingdom, forty-three only are at the command of man, and that 
the only lanigerous animal extensively appropriated in this country, 
besides its product of food, has furnished in a single year, from 



domestic sources, seventy per cent, of the raw material for a manu- 
facture valued at over one hundred and twenty millions of dollars, we 
must regard the acquisition of a new animal producing food and 
material for clothing, as an epoch in the industrial history of the 
conntry. It is the peculiar province of a Society like this to aid the 
development of this new national resource by shedding the fullest 
light upon the specific and geographical source of this animal, upon 
its habits, food and diseases, the uses of its products, and, above all, 
upon the laws which govern its reproduction; in a word, to make upon 
this subject natural history applied. As my object is less to present 
original matter than to diffuse the best authenticated information, 
corrected by your criticism, or sanctioned by your approval, a work 
rendered necessary by the errors abounding in agricultural reports 
and publications, I shall avail myself of the memoirs of M. Brandt, 
M. Tchihatcheff, M. Sacc, and M. Boulier, naturalists of high repute, 
and the very numerous notices scattered through the proceedings 
of the Imperial Society of Accliinatation. 

The description of this animal, given in 1855, by M. Brandt, direc- 
tor of the Museum at St. Petersburg, and distinguished among the 
zoologists of Europe, for his conscientious work and profound knowl- 
edge, is as follows: 

"The magnificent example of the Angora goat, which the Museum 
of the Imperial Academy owes to M. Tchihatcheff, produces at first 
sight the general impression of a domestic goat, when attention is not 
directed to its thick and silky fleece, to its flat ears turned down- 
wards, and its inconsiderable size. But it is precisely these traits 
which impress upon this animal a distinct seal, which give it the 
character of a peculiar race, whose origin is perhaps not the same as 
that of the domestic goat. The extremity of the snout, the cheeks, 
the nasal and frontal bone, as well as the ears, and lower part of the 
legs below the tarsal articulation, are covered with external hairs, 
which are shorter and thicker than those which cover the above 
mentioned parts in other species of goats. The forehead has soft hairs 
of less length, less applied to the skin, and, in part, curled. The 
hair of the beard, which is pointed and of moderate dimensions, being 



six inches in length, 1 is stiffer than the hair of the rest of the body 
but less so than that of the beard of the ordinary goat. The horns, 
of a greyish white tint, are longer than the head; at their lower part 
the interior marginal border turns inwards in such a manner that in 
this part they appear broad viewed in front, and narrow when seen 
exteriorly, at hah* their extension they direct themselves moderately 
backwards, and turn spirally outwards, so that their extremities, 
directed slightly upwards, are very much separated one from the 
other, and circumscribe a space gradually contracting itself. The 
whole of the neck, as well as the trunk, is covered with long hairs, 
which, particularly upon the neck and lateral parts of the body, are 
twisted in spirals having the appearance of loosened ringlets, it being 
observed at the same time that they reunite themselves into rolled 
tufts, a disposition which is less marked in the anterior part of the 
neck. The hairs which exhibit the greatest length are situated above 
the forelegs, and are almost nine and one-half inches long. Those of 
the neck are a little shorter and are nine inches long, and those of the 
belly eight inches three lines. The length of the hair with which 
the lateral parts of the body, as well as the back, are covered, is only 
seven inches six lines, and that of the hair of the hind legs six inches 
to seven inches. Finally the slightly stiff hair of the tail is about 
four inches in length. The color of the robe of the animal is a pure 
white, here and there slightly inclining to yellow. The hoofs, some- 
what small in proportion, are, like the horns, of a greyish white 
tint. The hair is without exception long, soft and fine; it is at once 
silky and greasy to the touch, and shows distinctly the brilliancy of 
silk." 

M. Brandt observes that the hairs corresponding most to exter- 
nal hair have only a third, or at most, do not attain half the 
thickness of the external hair of the common goat ; and that the 
external hair of the wild aud domestic goats is not only closer, stiffer, 
and more massive, but has a more considerable torsion and a less even 



1 All the dimensions given by M. Brandt are in German measurement. Oae 
German foot is equal to 1.0299 English feet. 



surface, that is to say, it is rougher and more scaly. He also remarks 
that "the walls of the hair of the Angora goat being thinner than 
those of the hair of the common goat, the substance contained in the 
fatty cellules oozes out more readily, which renders the hair of the 
Angora goat softer and more flexible, and gives it the lustre of silk.'' 

M. Brandt omits to mention that the long ringlets cover the hair, 
properly called, which is rough and short and lies sparingly ujjon the 
skin. 

The dimensions of the specimen examined by M. Brandt are given 
by him as follows: 1 

yi. tn. I. 

From the point of the snout to the root of the tail ... 4 4 2 

Length of head 11 9 

From the point of the snout to the eye 5 1 

From the eye to the ear 2 6 

From the eye to the horns 1 9 

Length of ear 6 

Length of horns in direct diameter 1 2 

Length of horns following the curvature 1 6 6 

Distance between horns taken at their roots 2 1 

Distances between their terminal points 1 9 9 

Width of horns at their roots 2 1 

Length of tail, including the hair 9 9 

Height of anterior part of the body 2 2 4 

Height of posterior part of the body 2 2 2 

The point of inquiry most strictly pertinent to the objects of this 
Society and one at the same time eminently practical, as indicating the 
laws which govern the reproduction of this animal, thus illustrating 
the relations of pure science with utilitarian ends, is the determina- 
tion of the specific source of the Angora goat. 

The popular opinion as to the origin of this species is founded upon 
the authority of Cuvier, who mentions but three species of the genus 
Capra—Capra cegragus, Capra ibex, Capra caucasica. He says, 



1 Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale d' Acclimatation. T. 11., pp. 316-18. 



"Capra cegragus appears to be the stock of all the varieties of domes- 
tic goat;" adding that they vary infinitely in size and color, in the 
length and fineness of the hair, in the size of the horns, and even in 
the number; the Angora goats of Cappadocia having the largest and 
most silky hair. 1 

The more recent researches of zoologists have greatly developed 
the knowledge of this genus. Instead of three only there are now 
recognized nine species of wild goats, which are divided into two 
groups based upon the form of the horns : — 



Capra ibex. 
Capra hispanica. 
Capra pyrenaica. 
Capra caucasica. 
Capra sibirica, 
Capra Walei. 
Capra Beden. 

2. Group with horns compressed and ca- J Capra Falconeri. 
rinated in front. j Capra segragus.2 



1. Group with horns flat in front, hav- 
ing a horizontal triangular section, and - 
furnished with large transversal knots. 



1 Animal Kingdom, McMurtrie's Translation. Vol. I., p. 198. 

2 Essai sur les chevres par M. Saec. Bulletin supr. cit., T. in., p. 519, 561, T. IV. 
p. 3. Giobel. 

Note. — The Cashmere Goat. The only goat beside the Angora which is 
strictly lanigerous is the Cashmere or Thibetian goat, which abounds in Cen- 
tral Asia, but whose origin is still obscure; although it has, according to Brandt, 
affinities with the Angora race. The size of the Cashmere goat is quite large; 
the horns are flattened, straight and black, and slightly divergent at the ex- 
tremities. The ears are large, flat, and pendant. The primary hair, which is 
long, silky and lustrous, is divided upon the back, and falls down upon the 
flanks in wavy masses. Beneath this hair there is developed in the autumn a 
short and exceedingly fine wool, from which the famous Cashmere shawls are 
fabricated. The enormous prices of these shawls when extensively introduced into 
Fiance at the commencement of the present century, as high as ten or twelve 
thousand francs, stimulated the French fabricants to emulate the Indian tissues. 
The first yarns from Cashmere wool were spun in 1815, and the high numbers were 
worth eight dollars per pound. The peculiar Indian texture called "Espouline " 
was perfectly achieved; and the success in this manufacture was hailed as the 
most brilliant triumph of the textile industry of France. Under the patronage 
of Monsieur, afterwards Charles X., in 1819 a great number of these goats were 
imported from Thibet, as many as four hundred being introduced by ODe inan- 
ufi cturer, Baron Ternaux, and much enthusiasm was excited in their culture. 
Experience, however, proved that these goats yielded but verv little milk, and 



8 



The so-called goat of the Rocky Mountains is removed by Professor 
Baird from the genus Capra, where it was formerly placed by him 
under the designation of Capra Americana, Mountain goat. He says 
in the description of Aplocerus monianus, contained in his Report 
of the Zoology of the Pacific Railroad routes, "The figures and de- 
scription of the skull and other bones of this species by Dr. Richard, 
son, show very clearly that the affinities arc much more with the ante- 
lopes than with the goats or sheep. In fact, none of the more modern 
systematic writers place it in the genus Capra, or, irfdeed, in the 
ovine group. The mere general resemblance, externally, to a goat is 
a matter of little consequence; indeed, its body is much more like 
that of a merino sheep. The soft, silvery, under hairs are very differ- 
ent from those of a goat, as well as the jet black horns, which are 
without any ridges, and smooth and highly polished at the extremi- 
ties." 1 

The more recent investigations have shown that the animals re- 



th.it the raw wool or down produced from an individual never exceeded one 
hundred and eighty grammes, usually much less, which it was very difficult to 
separate from the coarse hairs, "yarre," and yielded not more than twenty-five 
per cent, of material which could be woven. The manufacturers also discov- 
ered, although they had overcome all the mechanical difficulties of fabrication, 
that the raw material, expensive as it was, formed not more than one-tenth of 
the cost of a shawl ; that the Indian weaver worked for one-fifth the wages of a 
French workman, and that the ladies of fashion would pay double price for an 
Indian shawl, inferior in color, design and texture to the French fabric. The 
manufacture, which employed four thousand workmen in 1834, began to decline 
in 1840; and, although an occasional fabric may still be made, the manufacture 
has now ceased as a regular industry. The demand for the wool ceasing, the 
Cashmere goats became absorbed in the common race; and there is at present 
but a single flock of pure blood in Europe, the one preserved in the remarkable 
collection of domestic animals possessed by the King of Wurtemburg. There 
is reason to believe that the culture of the Cashmere goat will never be revived 
in Europe as a matter of profit, since a perfect substitute for the Cashmere 
down is found in the silky fleece of the new Mauchamps sheep, which is de- 
clared to be fully as brilliant and fully as soft as the product of the Cashmere 
goat, while it costs less as a raw material, and requires less manipulation to be 
transformed into yarn. (Sacc, sur les chevres. Bulletin supr. cit., T. iv., p. 48. 
Industrie des chales. Travaux de la Commission Francais, p. 10. Berneville 
Industrie des laines Peignees, p. 161.) 

i Vol. vii., p. 672. 



ferred to, and figured by G. Cuvier and F. Cuvier as types of the 
Copra ccgragus or Paseng, and said to occur both in Persia and on 
the Alps, were domestic goats which had become wild. Later re- 
searches have determined the true characteristics of C. cegragus, a 
species formed by Pallas from a cranium only, received by Gmelin 
from the mountains of the north of Persia, and have shown that 
naturalists had adopted this species as the source of the domestic goat 
without resting the assertion upon any proof. The comparison by M. 
Brandt in 1848 of a collection of skulls and horns obtained by M. 
Tchihatchef in the Cappadocian Taurus, with the original cranium 
which served Pallas for the type of his species, has enabled that nat- 
uralist, for the first time, to demonstrate positively the derivation of 
our domestic goat from Capra aigragus. M. Brandt asserts that 
it results from his labors that this species "is incontestably and exclu- 
sively the source of the domestic goat of Europe," and gives the fol- 
lowing arguments in support of this assertion : — 

1. "The Capra cegragus has all the exterior forms and all the pro- 
portions of the domestic goat." 

2. "It resembles it very much in the general as well as local 
distribution of its colors. " 

3. "It approaches the domestic goat more than any other species 
in the configuration of its horns, a configuration which plays so im- 
portant a part in the characteristics of the wild species." 

4. "It presents the same agreement with the domestic goat in 
respect to the cranium. Finally, it is found in the mountains of the 
countries, especially Mesopotamia, inhabited by the people of antiquity,* 
(the Israelites, Assyrians, etc.,) which have furnished the most ancient 
information respecting the raising of the goat." 1 

The establishment of the perfect identity of the domestic goat with 
a wild species is a negative argument of much force for the exclusion 
from the same source of an animal so widely differing as the Angora 
goat. A positive argument of equal weight is the recent observation 



1 Considerations sur la Capra iegragus de Pallas, souche de la Chevre doniestique 
par. J. F. Brandt Bulletin supr. cit., T. n., p. 5G5. 



10 



that the Angora goat more nearly resembles another wild species 
lately discovered. This species, the Capra Falconeri, is found upon 
all the mountains of Little Thibet, and upon the high mountains 
situated between the Indus, the Badukshan and the Indo Kusch. It 
resembles greatly the domestic goat, from which it differs principally 
in its magnificent horns, which, near together at the base, are at first 
arched backwards, and then turn in a spiral inwards, and then over 
again outwards. They are strongly compressed, triangular and free 
from knots; their internal face, at first plane, is rounded higher up, 
whilst their external face is everywhere convex. Although there 
does not appear to be a development of fleece in this wild species 
corresponding to that of the Angora goat, M. Sacc, professor in the 
faculty of sciences at Neuchatel, who has made a special study of the 
goats, does not hesitate to declare, that "all the characters of this 
species seem to indicate that it is the sourc'e of the beautiful and pre- 
cious Angora goat whose horns are spirally turned like those of Fal- 
coner's goat." M. Brandt intimates that the domestication of other 
wild species than C. cegragus and perhaps the C. Falconeri had 
produced the Angora goat. Geoffrey St. Hilaire,the highest authority 
upon the origin of domestic animals, refers to the opinions of M. Sace 
and M. Brandt without dissent, thus: "he (M. Brandt) is led espe- 
cially to see in the Angora goat, produced, according to Pallas, by the 
cross of the sheep with the goat, an issue of the Capra Falconeri; this 
opinion is also admitted by our learned confrere, M. Sacc." 1 

The hypothesis that the Angora goat is descended from Falconer's 
goat is rendered probable by the diffusion of the former around the 
mountains of Thibet, where Falconer's goat abounds, and even be- 
yond the central plains of Asia from Armenia to Chinese Tartary, 
where its wool is manufactured, or exported in a natural state by the 
port of Shanghae. Angora wool, or mohair, was exhibited at the Lon- 
don Exhibition of 1862 among the Russian products, as proceeding 
from the country of the Kalmucks of the Don, situated between the 



1 Sur les origiues dies animaux domestiques. Bulletin supr. oit., T. vi., p. 503. 



11 



Black and Caspian Seas. This species is thus seen to be diffused, 
although it may be sparingly, over the whole surface of Asia. 

Th;it this goat is at present more abundant in the country about 
Angora in Asia Minor, near the habitat of the Copra cegragus and 
distant many thousand miles from Thibet, may seem opposed to its 
derivation from the Thibetian species. The learned memoir of the 
Russian traveller, M. Tchihatcheff, 1 establishes beyond question the 
comparatively recent introduction of the Angora goat into Asia 
Minor. He has shown that among the countries of classic antiquity 
there is no one which the ancient writers have mentioned more fre- 
quently and under more varied aspects than Asia Minor, because this 
country was not only one of the foci of the Greek civilization, but 
also the native country of a great number of the most celebrated 
writers of antiquity, such as Herodotus, Homer, Strabo, Dion of 
Halicarnassus, Galen, etc. Hence in all that concerns the natural 
history of Asia Minor, the writings of these authors have an especial 
interest, while then* silence has the value of a negative argument. 
Referring to the writings anterior to the classic period, we find in 
the most ancient and venerable of historic monuments, the Bible, 
that the goat is frequently mentioned among the domestic animals 
which constituted the riches of the first patriarchs. Yet there is 
nothing in these notices which leads us to suppose that they were 
possessed of a race with fine and white wool. The beautiful compari- 
son in the Song of Solomon which might seem to suggest the exist- 
ence of a choice race of these animals, "Thy hair is as a flock of goats 
that appear from Mount Gilead" taken in connection with the verse 
following, "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which 
come up from the washing," would seem to intimate that the color was 
referred to by the poet as the point of resemblance ; while the first 
comparison, to be flattering to youthful beauty, must imply that the 
color was black and not white. 



Considerations sur la chevre d'Angora. Bulletin supr. cit., T. n., p. 411. 



12 



Coming clown to the Greek authors, — Homer and Hesiod, though 
frequently mentioning the goat as a domestic animal, make no allu- 
sion to any particular race. iElian, referring to the goats of Lycia 
and the practice of shearing them like sheep, says that the wool is 
used for cords and cables. Appian mentions the stuffs known under 
the name of IuXUia from Cilicia, the ancient name of the country 
in which Angora is situated, as a means of protection against projec- 
tiles ; implying that the tissues of the goats of Cilicia were not distin- 
guished for their fineness. Virgil gives the wool of the goat no other 
destination than to serve for the necessities of the camp and for the 
use of poor sailors : — 

u Usum in castrorum et miseris velamina nautis." 

Columella, the great writer on Roman agriculture, quotes this line 
of Virgil as applicable to the covering of goats, and while tracing the 
qualities which a perfect animal should possess, excludes all resem- 
blance to the Angora goat by demanding that the hair should be black. 
Strabo, born in the town of Amasia, very near the present domain of the 
Angora goat, makes no mention of goats of that country distinguished 
for their fleeces, although he remarks upon the different races of fine 
wooled sheep found in many places in Asia Minor. The author 
whom I am following observes that the most careful research among 
the Byzantine writers, after the Roman possessions became the patri- 
mony of a barbarous people, has not afforded the least indication of a 
fine and white wooled goat. It was not until the year 1555, that the 
Angora goat was distinctly made known through the Father Belon, 
who had travelled in Asia Minor, by a brief but sufficiently charac- 
teristic description. The silence of the classic authors in respect to 
any goat with fine and white fleece would seem to place it beyond 
doubt that the progenitors of this animal were introduced into Asia 
Minor at a comparatively recent period, when the country was invaded 
by barbarous and pastoral races, either Turks or Arabs. M. Tclii- 
hatcheff observes that the Arabs have never formed stable establish- 
ments in Asia Minor, while the Turkish race is the only one among 
the modern invaders of that country which came in search of a per- 



IB 



uianent home and has preferred it unto this day. He shows that two 
branches of the Turkish race, the Suldjeks and the Oghus, success- 
ively installed themselves in Asia Minor in the eleventh and thir- 
teenth centuries, taking possession of the precise region in which 
Angora is included, and which their descendants still occupy. Im- 
mediately previous to their hnmigration they had occupied the vast 
plains of Khorassan and Bokara, and still more anciently, accord- 
ing to the most celebrated orientalists and geographers, the country 
on the southern borders of Siberia and the mountains of the Altai 
chain. It appears thus to be not improbable that a race of animals, 
originating in Central Asia, whose representative still exists in the 
Copra Falconeri, should have been carried by the migration of pas- 
toral tribes to the region in which they are now found in the modified 
form of the Angora goat. This hypothesis is supported by the state- 
ment of the President dela Tour d'Aigues, probably derived from the 
Turkish shepherds who accompanied the flock introduced by him into 
Europe in 1787, that "there is a constant tradition that the goats of 
Angora did not originate in that country, but were derived from Cen- 
tral Asia." 1 

Although the origin of the Angora goat from Falconer's goat is not 
demonstrated by proofs as positive as those which support the deriva- 
tion of the common goa,t from Capra cegragus, they are not less posi- 
tive than those which formerly led all naturalists to attribute the pater- 
nity of the common goat to that species. The absolute knowledge of 
the progenitor of \he Angora goat is of less practical importance 
than the demonstration of a specific difference between the two races. 
That the Angora goat constitutes a particular race, and is not due to 
the same origin as the common goat, seems established by the follow- 
ing considerations: — 

1. There is an essential difference in the horns of the two races, 
those of the Angora race being twisted spirally, a configuration wholly 
wanting in the common race, the form of the horns being recognized 
by modern systematic writers as the basis of the classification of the 

1 Sacc, Essai sur la Chevies. Bulletin sujir. cit, T. iv., p. 6. 



14 



family Cavlcomia, or ruminants with horns permanent, hollow and 
enclosing a piece of the frontal bone. 

2. The mammillary organs are hemispherical, while they are 
elongated in the common species. 

3. The very long wooly hair hanging in corkscrew ringlets, fine, 
white and lustrous as silk, covering the short and harsh hair properly 
so called, which lies upon the skin, is in striking contrast with the 
short and coarser external hair of the common goat with its finer in- 
terior hair or down.. 

4. The cry, wholly different from that of the common goat, resem- 
bles that of sheep. 

5. The milk is more fatty ; the odor of the male less strong and 
disagreeable. 

6. The Angora, unlike the common goat, is fattened as readily as 
the sheep, and the flesh is exceedingly palatable. 

7. The specific difference is finally established by the character of 
the crosses, a point to be referred to hereafter with more detail. 

The theory of the difference of species in these two races is not 
invalidated by the fertility of the products of their crosses ; such fer- 
tility having been observed in the mixed offspring of the more widely 
separated species, the horse and the ass. In this case it is well estab- 
lished that the he mule can generate and the she mule produce, such 
cases occurring in Spain and Italy, and more frequently in the West 
Indies and New Holland. 1 

The practical deduction to be drawn from the separation of the 
two species is thus clearly stated by M. Sacc. "There is then no util- 
ity in creating flocks of the Angora for crossing with the ordinary 
goat. We must limit ourselves to preserving the species in entire 
purity and devote ourselves to improving the race by itself as has 
been done with the justly celebrated merinos of Rambouillet." 2 A 
leading object of this paper is to enforce the opinion of this sagacious 
and practical naturalist. 

1 Lyell's Principles of Geology. Vol. II., p. 423. 
1 Bull. supr. cit., T. v., p. 571. 



15 



Upon the introduction of the Angora goat into France in 1787, and 
more recently in 1855, the opinion was generally entertained that 
the principal benefit to be derived from the new race would result 
from the amelioration of the products of the common species. This 
opinion unfortunately prevails in this country. It is sanctioned by all 
the agricultural notices or essays which have been published respect- 
ing the new race, and is naturally fostered by importers and breedei's 
to enhance the selling price of bucks. 

One of the earliest papers descriptive of this species which ap- 
peared in this country was published in the Patent Office Agricultural 
Report for 1857, 1 it being the abstract of a report upon the Cashmere 
goats, as they were called, in the possession of Mr. Richard Peters, 
of Atlanta, Georgia, written by the well-known naturalist, Dr. John 
Bachman, of Charleston, S. C. This excellent naturalist, repeating 
the views at that time generally entertained, says: "The varieties of 
goats are equally numerous and equally varied in different countries. 
They are all of one species, the varieties mixing and multiplying into 
each other ad infinitum. They all claim as their origin the common 
goat, Capra hircus, which it is admitted by nearly all reliable natural- 
ists dei-ives its parentage from the wild goat, Capra atgragus, that still 
exists on the European Alps." After referring to the diversity of 
color, aspect and form, seen in the goats of Hindostan, Chinese Tar- 
tary and Thibet, he says, "in a word, they are all of one species, but 
under many varieties ; breeds have become permanent, and some are 
infinitely more valuable than others." He gives the results of breed- 
ing the Angora with the common goat as shown in the flocks of Mr. 
Peters in the following language: — "Familiar as we have been through 
a long life, with the changes produced by crosses among varieties of 
domestic animals and poultry, there is one trait in these goats which 
is more strongly developed than in any other variety that we have ever 
known. We allude to the facility with which the young, of the cross 
between the male of the Asiatic goat and the female of the common 
goat assume all the characteristics of the former. It is exceedingly 



p. 56. 



16 



difficult to change a breed that has become permanent, in any of our 
domestic varieties, whether it be that of horses, cattle, sheep or hogs, 
into another variety by aid of the male of the latter. There is a 
tendency to run back into their original varieties. Hence the ob- 
iection to mixed breeds. But in the progeny of these Asiatic and 
common goats, nine-tenths of them exhibit the strongest tendency to 
adopt the characteristics of the male, and to elevate themselves into 
the higher and nobler grade, as if ashamed of their coarse, dingy hair, 
and musky aromatics, and desirous of washing out the odorous per- 
fume and putting on the white livery of the more respectable race." 
Speaking of the Angora goat, Mr. Israel S. Diehl, who has contrib- 
uted a paper upon it of much research, and valuable for many 
original observations, says: 1 "This goat, though described as the 
Capra Angorensis, is only an improved variety of the Copra Jiircus 
or common domestic goat." He refers to numerous State agri- 
cultural societies and scientific and practical men to show the value 
of the Angora goat and its fleece, "and the facility with which it can 
be crossed and bred with the common goat, by which a flock can be 
readily raised and increased," adding, "almost all the progeny exhibit 
the strongest tendencies to the higher and nobler grades by assimilat- 
ing themselves to the male and putting on the white livery of the 
more respectable, honored, and valued race." These views, widely 
circulated through the Government agricultural reports, have been 
accepted without question, and the efforts of breeders in this country 
have been largely wasted in vain efforts to produce crosses which 
would have all the value of the pure race. 

To judge of the value and feasibility of such attempts we must bear 
distinctly in view the precise economical result to be sought for. It is 
obviously, not primarily to obtain a breed of goats which shall be fit 
for the butcher. Neither is it to secure a breed which will furnish a 
merely tolerable fleece which would be simply a substitute for the wool 
of the sheep. The object is to appropriate a race of animals which 

1 Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1863. p. 216. 



17 



shall produce a textile material adapted for certain defined purposes 
in the arts as distinct as silk, noble Saxony wool, or sea island cotton; 
a material which is a substitute for nothing else known, and has origi- 
nated its own fabrics. The introduction of a race which fails to give 
this peculiar fibre, would be no real acquisition, however amusing to 
the breeder, and interesting to the physiologist the experiments in 
crossing might be. 1 

Laying aside the statements given in the agricultural reports, as of 
little value as testimony, because there is no matter in which even 
skillful flock breeders are so liable to be deceived, as in the character 
and adaptation of their fleeces, and because there is no evidence that 
the products of the crosses referred to have ever been subjected to 
the only conclusive test, that of spinning, let us consider the feasibil- 
ity of producing the typical fleece of the Angora goat, by means of 
crosses, by reference to admitted physiological principles, and the 
results in analogous cases. The illustrious naturalist, M. do Quatre- 
fages, who has recently discussed, in his lectures at the Museum d' His- 
toire naturclle, and in the Revue des Deux Mondes,' 2 the principles 
whkh govern the formation of races, remarks that "there is one law 
in crossing which is constantly verified; each of the two authors tends 
to transmit to the product at the same time all its qualities good or 
bad." This tendency he admits is modified by the predominance 
in one or the other, of the power of transmissibihty. "When this 
power is equal in the two parents the product will have an equal 
mixture of the qualities of the parents ; there will be a predomi- 
nance of the qualities of one where this power of transmissibihty is 
unequal. The inequality of the power of transmissibihty appears to 



1 The conviction is extending among intelligent wool growers in this country of 
the importance of preserving the varieties of woolly fibre, each in its own char- 
acter, purity and excellence, and free from that "mongrel type which will do for 
everything but is not desirable for anything." At a meeting of the Ohio Wool 
Growers Convention, January 7, 1867, "Mr. 11. M. Montgomery moved that the true 
coarse in breeding sheep is to keep breeds entirely distinct and to endeavor to pro- 
duce the best clothing of the best combing wools, which proposition was unani- 
mously agreed to." U. S. Economist, January 25, 18G8. 

2 Vide llevue des Deux Mondes, Decembre 15, 1860 to April 14, 1801. 

2 



18 



be much greater when the races are nearest each other, for sometimes 
the crossing between such races gives a product which seems to be- 
long entirely to one of the two." 1 He observes that it follows from 
these principles that nothing could be more irrational than to take 
animals of the half blood as regenerators to ameliorate a race; for not 
possessing completely the qualities which we seek, and having pre- 
served a part of the bad which we wish to shun, they transmit a 
mixture of one, and besides, as they are necessarily of a formation 
more recent than the race to be regenerated, it will be the last one 
which will impress itself, if not upon the first, at least upon successive 
generations. These views are confirmed by the recent observations of 
Professor Agassiz, in Brazil, on the effects of crosses of races of men. 
He observes that the principal result at which he has arrived from 
the study of the mixture of human races in the region of Brazil is 
that "races bear themselves towards each other as all distinct species; 
that is to say, that the hybrids which spring from the crossing of men 
of different races are always a mixture of the two primitive types 
and never the simple reproduction of the characters of one or the 
other progenitor. It is also remarked by the same high authority, that, 
''however naturalists may differ respecting the origin of species, there 
is at least one point in which they agree, namely, that the offspring 
from two so-called different species is a being intermediate between 
them, showing the peculiar features of both parents, but resembling 
neither so closely as to be mistaken for a pure representative of the 
one or other. 2 

The views of the eminent physiologists above quoted give no sup- 
port to the popular fallacy into which Dr. Bachman and Mr. Diehl 
seem to have fallen, that the male animal possesses the greater power 
of transmitting blood to his progeny. Dr. Randall in the chapter 
upon the principles of breeding in his "Practical Shepherd," while 
admitting that the ram much oftenest drives the leading characteristics 



1 Amelioration de l'espece" chevalinc, Bull. supr. cit., T. vm, 1861, p. 257. 
* A Journey in Brazil, by Professor and Mrs. L. Agassiz. pp. 2% and 338. 



19 



of form, attributes the greater power of the ram to the superiority of 
blood and superiority of individual vigor, as the ram is generally 
"higher bred" than the ewes, even in full blood flocks. 1 

If it be true as a physiological principle that the parents in widely 
separated races tend equally to transmit all their qualities, what hope 
is there of obtaining a valuable lanigerous animal from the crosses 
of goats so widely separated as to belong to different species; espe- 
cially when the heavy coating of one is absolutely worthless, and noth- 
ing short of the peculiar qualities found in the other is worth seeking 
for? All analogy teaches that it is vain to expect to form a perma- 
nent race of any value from the crosses of such widely separated 
races. Dr. Randall declares that "all attempts to form permanent 
intermediate varieties of value by crosses between the merino and 
any family of the mutton sheep with the view of combining the spec- 
ial excellencies of each have ended in utter failure." 2 The German 
breeders say that it is impossible to transform, by crossing, the common 
sheep into merinos. Even after nine generations the common type 
reappears as soon as the use of merino rams of the pure blood has 
ceased. 3 It is for this reason that the Germans refuse to the highest 
bred grade any other designation than improved half breeds. 4 

The constant use of regenerators of pure blooded Angoras, if they 
could be procured, which would soon be impossible, from domestic 
sources, if the system of crossing should be persisted in, would be of 
little avail. In the Asiatic goat we have a perfect standard, as in the 
Arabian horse. Mr. Youatt says of the English races of the horse 
descended from the Godolphin Arabian, or the Darley Arabian and 
the blood mares of Charles I., "where one drop of common blood has 
mingled with the pure stream, it has been immediately detected in the 
inferiority of form and deficiency of bottom." 5 So, we may infer, 



i pp. 110, 111. 

2 The Practical Shepherd, p. 125. 
"Sacc. Bull. eupr. cit., T. v., p. 571. 
4 Practical Shepherd, p. 127. 
° Youatt on the Horse. 



20 



will a drop of blood of the common goat detract from the lustre and 
fineness of fibre found in the pure Asiatic race. 

The elaborate article of Mr. Fleischman on German fine wool hus- 
bandry 1 gives the results of constantly regenerating by the pure me- 
rino ram, the cross from the pure merino and common country sheep. 
At the fourth generation the fleece consists of 25 per cent, prima, 50 
per cent, secunda, and 25 per cent, tertia wool. The nature of the 
wool is still coarse. There are about eighteen thousand wool hairs in 
a square inch. In the tenth generation the fine wool predominates. 
A fleece yields from 60 to 70 per cent, prima, 20 to 25 per cent, se- 
cunda, and 10 to 15 per cent, tertia wool. In the twentieth genera- 
tion the fleece, by regular crossing and careful management, has 20 per 
cent, electa, 50 per cent, prima, 20 per cent, secunda and 10 per cent. 
tertia wool. There will yet be sometimes found stickel or coarse hair. 
At this period twenty-seven thousand wool hairs grow upon a square 
inch. Thus even at the twentieth generation, with the constant use 
of regenerators of the pure blood, the wool falls short of the fineness 
of the original or perfectly pure blooded animal, which has from forty 
thousand to forty-eight thousand wool hairs on a square inch. These 
facts show how slow is the approach to fineness of fibre even in 
crosses of animals descended from a remote though common ancestor. 

Proceeding from analogy to direct evidence as to the results of 
breeding the race under consideration by means of crossing with the 
common sj>ecies, no person in Europe has examined the Angora goat 
so thoroughly and for so long a period as M. de la Tour d'Aigues, 
President of the Royal Society of Agriculture of France, who in 1787 
introduced some hundreds of these goats into Europe under the care 
of Turkish shepherds, and established them upon the low Alps where 
they greatly prospered. He affirms that even after the sixteenth gen- 
eration the hair of the crosses obtained by crossing the Angora buck 
with females of the common goat remained hair and although it was 
elongated it could not be spun. 2 "This species is," he says, "constant; 



i rateut Office Report. 1847. p. 253. 
2 Sacc. Bull. supr. cit, T. v., p. 570. 



21 



and although they procreate with our goats we can never hope to 
multiply them by crossing the races, because the vice of the mother is 
never effaced. If some individuals approach, more or less, the race 
of the she, the hair will always be shorter and too coarse to be 
worked." * The testimony of this official head of the agriculture of 
France is of the highest value, not only because his position led him 
to seek the utmost advantage from the introduction of a new race, 
but because an elaborate memoir published by him shows that he had 
made thorough experiments in spinning and manufacturing the pro- 
ducts of his fleeces, for which he gives minute directions. 

The observations of M. Brandt show that the thickness of the 
hair of the pure Angora goat is from a third to a half that of the 
common goat. This fineness of fibre is an essential spinning quality. 
The fibre of this species is always prepared and spun in the form of 
worsted of long wool, that is, the fibre is not carded or subjected to a 
process by which the fibres are placed in every possible direction in 
relation to each other, adhering by their serratures, but are drawn 
out by combing so that they may be straight and parallel, the ends of 
the fibre being covered in the process of spinning, so that the yarns 
are smooth and lustrous. The fibres being extremely slippery they 
will not adhere in spinning unless they have the requisite fineness to 
permit many parallel fibres to be united in a yarn of a given number. 
When the fibres are too large they require to be mixed with combing 
wool to "carry" the fibre, as it is technically called, which diminishes 
the lustre of the fabric. Manufacturers of worsted, who have had 
large experience in spinning the mohair of Asia and this country, in- 
form me that the best mohair can be spun into yarns of the number 
forty-two, while others are with difficulty spun into yarns numbered 
from ten to sixteen. Fibre of the latter quality is of no more value 
than the most ordinary combing wool, except for a few exceptional 
purposes to be hereafter referred to. Lots of so-called Angora wool, 
doubtless the products of recent crosses, offered in the market the pres- 

1 Sacc. Bull. Supra, cit., T. iv., p. 8. 



22 



ent season, could be used only for carpet filling, the lowest use of woolly 
fibre. 

Although the facts and reasoning given above leave no doubt upon 
my own mind that the breeding from crossings of the common goat of 
this country should be abandoned, it is proper that I should state that 
hopes are still entertained in France of good results from breeding 
with the domestic goats of that country. M. Kichard, of Cantal, 
in a report made in 1862 upon the animals deposited by the Society 
of Acclimatation at the farm of the Souliard in the Cantal, says: 
"Crosses produced from the Angora and the ordinary goats of Au- 
vergne have given products, which at the second generation much re- 
semble those of pure blood; and if the Society should continue its 
experiments upon this subject, I think it will obtain some happy 
results. Nevertheless, to settle the opinion upon this point, it would 
be useful to study this practical question wherever the Angora goats 
have been deposited." x The most that can be made of the opinion so 
cautiously expressed is that the system of crossing is still regarded in 
France as a proper subject of experiment. 

CULTURE IN THE REGION OF ANGORA. 

The culture of this species in the country of its greatest develop- 
ment next demands attention. Ample information upon this point 
is furnished by scientific travellers. The celebrated academician 
Tournefort, the master in botany of the illustrious Linnams, was the 
first to shed full light upon the ancient magnificence of Ancyra, the 
site of the present Angora, mentioned by Livy among the illustrious 
cities of the East. He refers to its most ancient people as having 
made even the Kings of Syria their tributaries, while its later inhab- 
itants were the principal Galatians, whom the Apostle Paul honored 
with an epistle. He describes its monument to Augustus, the most 
splendid in all Asia, upon which was inscribed in pure Latin the life 
of the Emperor, its streets abounding with pillars and old marbles 

1 Bulletin supr. cit., T. ix., p. 8. 



23 



mingled with porphyries and jaspers, its walls built up of ruins of 
architraves, bases and capitals, and its tombs covei-ed with Greek and 
Latin inscriptions, all attesting that this was one of the centres of the 
Roman civilization, and making more significant the silence of con- 
temporary authors before alluded to. But more interesting than the 
monuments of past splendors, is the mention first given with any de- 
tail by this traveller, of the contribution to modern civilization made 
by the barbarians from Central Asia. I transcribe his language : — 

"They breed the finest goats in the world in the champaign of 
Angora. They are of a dazzling white, and their hair, which is fine 
as silk, naturally curled in locks of eight or nine inches long, is 
worked up into the finest stuffs, especially camlet. But they do not 
suffer these fleeces to be exported from this place because the people 

of the country gain their livelihood thereby However it be 

these fine goats are to be seen only within four or five days' journey 
of Angora and Beibazar. Their young degenerate if they are car- 
ried further. The thread made of this goat's hair is sold for from 
four livres to twelve or fifteen livres the ocque. Some is sold for 
twenty and five and twenty crowns the ocque, but that is only made 
up into camlet for the use of the Sultan's seraglio. The workmen of 
Angora use this thread of goats' hair without any mixture, whereas 
at Brussels they are obliged to mix thread made of wool, for what 
reason I know not. In England they use up this hair in their peri- 
wigs, but it cannot be spun All this country is dry and bare, 

except the orchards. The goats eat nothing except the young shoots 
of herbs, and perhaps it is this which, as Brusbequis observes, con- 
tributes to the consummation of the beauty of their fleece, which is 
lost when they change their climate and pasture." * 

Interesting statements in relation to the culture of this species at 
Angora are given by Capt. Conelly, an English traveller, in a paper 
read before the Asiatic Society, which I deem it unnecessary to repeat, 



1 A Voyage into the Levant. By M. Tournefort, Chief Botanist to the French 
King. 



24 



as they arc generally accessible in Mr. Southey's work on wool. 1 
The most recent information is that given by the Russian traveller 
before quoted, who devoted five years to the study of natural history 
in Asia Minor, and M. Bouliur (Pharmacien Aide Major) in a report 
of a mission to Asia Minor presented to the French Minister of War. 2 
The region marked out by the former of these scientific travellers, as 
the peculiar domain of the Angora goat, is situated between 39° 20' 
and 41° 30' north latitude, and between 33° 20' and 35° longitude 
east of Paris, a surface of about 2350 metric leagues square, equiva- 
lent to about a forty-fourth part of the surface of the peninsula of 
Asia Minor, and about the same fraction of the area of France. 
This country is more or less mountainous and furrowed by deep val- 
leys, its mean altitude being estimated at 1200 metres ; while the more 
elevated masses are generally shaded with fine forests, the plateaus 
which form a large part of the country, are very little wooded. The 
absence of trees, bushes and arborescent plants gives the country the 
aspect of immense stejipes. This nudity permits the first heats of the 
spring to dry up the little humidity which the earth has acquired in 
winter. The climate is excessive, the winters being very cold, and 
the summers exceedingly hot. The country is covered with snow in 
winter, the rain and snow being very frequent, the thermometer in the 
neighborhood of Angora frequently descending to — 12° — 15° — 18° 
of the centigrade thermometer, corresponding to 10.6°, 5° and zero 
Fahrenheit. 

The cold season continues, however, only three or four months. 
During the rest of the year the temperature is very hot, particularly 
in the valleys, while the fine days continue almost without interrup- 
tion ; abundant pasturage is found for the white goats only after the 
frosts and snows, when the first warm rains revive the vegetation. 
This time is of short duration, and the stimulus given by a copious 



1 Southey on Colonial Wools, p. 322, et seq. 

2 Vide Considerations sur la chevre d' Angora par M. V. de TchihatchelF, Bull, 
supr. cit., T. xi. p. 305. Sur la chevre d'Augora. Par M. Boulier, Pharmacien Aide 
Major. Bull. supr. cit., T. IV., p. ~>~>~. 



25 

and succulent nourishment is exerted wholfy in developing the fleeces 
in length. The shearing, which takes place in April, is hardly con- 
cluded when the vegetation called forth by the warm spring is 
arrested, and receives no moisture from the dews, persons lying at 
night in the open air finding in the morning no humidity upon their 
garments. This dryness, however, gives to the vegetation which 
flourishes, the only aliment to flocks during summer, an aromatic char- 
acter which makes it peculiarly digestible and stimulating. 

The mineralogical character of the rocks which underlie the coun- 
try is generally feldspathic, the trachytic and serpentine rocks 
abounding. No peculiar mineralogical elements appear to be essen- 
tial to the successful culture of this species, as M. Boulier observes 
that there is not the least sign of degeneracy in the fleeces of flocks 
grown upon calcareous or gypseous soils. The localization of this 
species in certain districts within the general domain assigned to it, 
is quite remarkable, and appears to be mainly determined by the alti- 
tude of the country, the flocks of the pure race being rarely dis- 
tributed upon the most elevated districts, in the deep valleys or the 
neighborhood of the forests. This localization is doubtless encour- 
aged by the native proprietors, who unanimously assert that this goat 
cannot be transported from the place where it is born to a neighbor- 
ing village without suffering a deterioration of fleece. Even the 
intelligent travellers above referred to seem to partake of this opinion. 
Direct observations, however, in Europe and elsewhere, have shown 
that this apparent deterioration is only the effect of age, and not due 
to a change of place and climate or food. The finest fleece is found 
upon animals a year old, which is worth eleven francs the kilogrammes; 
although somewhat less fine in the second year, it is quite good at the 
end of the fourth year, when it is worth six francs the kilogramme. 
At the end of the sixth year the fleece is positively bad, and at this 
period the animals are usually killed, then- natural life being only nine 
or ten years. 

All authors agree that these animals, although able to resist both heat 
and cold except immediately after shearing, when they are liable to 



26 



be destroyed by moderate depression of temperature, cannot with- 
stand much humidity, either in their pastures or folds. In a moist 
atmosphere they are especially subject to maladies of the respirator)' 
organs, or a kind of pleuro-pneumonia. In severe winters, while the 
common goat of the country is unaffected, the mortality among the 
goats of the pure race is frightful. This is due largely to their con- 
finement, when the temperature is 15° centigrade, in very bad stables 
completely closed and unventllatcd, and to their nourishment upon 
fodder imperfectly dried, a very little barley only being given when 
the snow falls. The delicacy and lymphatic temperament of the 
white Angoras, which seem to be inherent to this race, appear to be 
closely related to their color. Some physiologists see in the color and 
delicacy of this animal the evidence of an imperfect albinism. In 
the very interesting discussions of the Board of Agriculture of Massa- 
chusetts in 1867, many curious facts were stated, illustrating the re- 
lation of a white color in animals with certain diseases and defi- 
cienccs; for instance, that white horses are subject to diseases to which 
black or red horses are not. Prof. Agassiz expressed the opinion 
that change of color in animals must be the result of some general 
change in the system, and if it is not shown in the eyes it will be 
shown in something else, the light color being a kind of bleaching of 
those darker tints which are connected with the qualities of the blood, 
indicating a certain feebleness of the system." These views are 
peculiarly interesting when taken in connection with the facts stated 
by M. Boulier as to the manner in which the losses above referred to 
are repaired. The fact had already been stated by M. Tchihatcheff, 
that when the losses are very considerable, the people of the country 
repair them by crossing the Angora with the common goats, and that 
the purity of the race is regained in the third generation. This state- 
ment was regarded in France as conclusive as to the expediency 
of crossing with the common goats of France, until the statements 
which follow were published. M. Boulier shows that the goats 
referred to as common in Asia, are of the same species as those of 
the pure Angora race, from which they differ only in their color and 
size. The variety which is spread everywhere in Asia Minor upon 



27 



all soils and at all altitudes, is the black or Kurd race. The variety 
confined to the narrow limit is the white race. "The one and the 
other," he says, "have long fleeces. Their general forms resemble 
each other. The black goat is only of a size about a fifth larger 
than the white goat. The weight of the fleeces of the black race 
varies between three and four ocques (3 kil. 750 to 5 kil.). The hair, 
black, straight and without undulation, reaches a length of 0.27 m. 
. . . The length of the locks of the white race reach 0.25 m. and 
the weight of the best fleeces two ocques (2 kil. 500)." M. Boulier 
cites two examples to show that the introduction of the white female 
goats into the country where they have not previously existed is not 
regarded by the natives as the most simple and rapid means of 
acquiring the more precious race. "Seventy years ago, at Zchiftela 
Gentchibe Yallaci, the natives possessed no white goats. Since that 
period they have crossed the black female goats of the village with 
the buck of the white race, and at present there are not less than 
eight thousand goats of the latter race upon the territory of that dis- 
trict. We have examined the flocks, and the fleeces are in no respect 
inferior to any of those which we have seen elsewhere. It is now 
established in respect to these new generations that after three 
years of experience the newly crossed race has not degenerated; it 
is distinctly established, since for a long time the regenerators are 
taken from the flocks themselves. At Sidi Ghazi the crossing by the 
same procedure has been commenced within only six years. The 
flocks are magnificent." The effects of the crossing in the successive 
generations are thus detailed: — 

"1. The cross of a black female goat with a white buck will pre- 
sent a fleece marbled with a yellow color upon an impure white found- 
ation. The flanks, the shoulders and the head will preserve more 
particularly the marks of the color of the mother; the fineness of the 
fleece will be sensibly ameliorated. 

"2. The cross of this first product with a white buck will cause all 
the dark tints to disappear. The fleece will become white. The 
shoulders and the flanks will be covered with wavy ringlets; but the 



28 



whole line of the back, and the forehead will remain furnished with 
coarse, straight hairs. 

3. On coupling this new cross always with a buck of the pure 
race we shall obtain a greater fineness in the long ringlets of the 
flanks and shoulders; the dorso-lumbar portion of the vertebral col- 
umn will no longer retain coarse hairs which will remain still on the 
upper part of the neck and forehead. 

4. A fourth cross, carried on with the same precautions as before, 
will fix a stamp of purity to the product, the coarse hairs will have 
disappeared on the forehead and neck. 

5. The consecutive crossings will render more stable the modifica- 
tions already formed, and already after the fifth generation the indi- 
viduals will be able to reproduce as if they were of the pure 
blood." 1 

An infallible proof of fineness not mentioned by M. Boulier is in- 
sisted upon by other writers, viz., the curling of the wool, which is 
observed upon the young individuals only when they are of the pure 
blood, so that all the young bucks are rejected from the flocks with 
the utmost care as not being of the pure race, whose wool is not 
curled. 

It is not to be denied that further observations are greatly to be 
desired in confirmation of the observations of M. Boidier. They are, 
however, referred to by M. Sacc as both "skillful and conscientious," 
and are relied upon by the latter naturalist as establishing the iden- 
tity of the species of the black Kurd and white Angora race, and they 
are quoted with approbation by M. Bemis, principal veterinary sur- 
geon of the army of Africa. This identity seems confirmed by the 
observations of M. Diehl, who has personally visited Angora. "There 



1 Bull. supr. cit., T. v., p. 168. The facts stated by M. Boulier may seem incon- 
sistent with the views elsewhere presented in this article as to the slowness of 
improvement by crossing. The identity of species in the black and white race 
is not settled by this naturalist. The power of deviation within wide limits may 
be a characteristic of this species in domestication ; and these facts, to use the 
language of Prof. Agassiz in relation to deviations of species, may "only point 
out the range of flexibility in types which in their essence are invariable." A 
Journey in Brazil, p. 42. 



29 



is also a second, or other variety of Angora or shawl wool goat, 
besides those generally described. This goat has an unchanging 
outer cover of long coarse hair, between the roots of which comes in 
winter an undercoat of downy wool that is naturally thrown off in 
spring or is carefully combed out for use. A remarkably fine species 
of this breed exists throughout the area to which the white-haired 
goat is limited." 

The number of goats of the white race grown in the district of 
Angora is estimated by M. Sacc and others at three hundred thou- 
sand, and the product in wool, called tiftik by the natives and mohair 
in England, at two million pounds. The English tables of Turkish 
exports make the product in 1867 a little over four million pounds. 
Formerly the wools of Angora were wholly spun or woven in place, 
and were exported in the form of yarns or camlets, of which the city 
of Angora sold in 1844, thirty-five thousand pieces to Europe. The 
exportation of the wool was prohibited through the same wise policy 
which enabled England by its monopoly of the combing wools to 
build up its stupendous worsted manufacture. Some twelve hundred 
looms were employed. The natives displayed great skill in making 
gloves, hosiery and camlets for exportation, and summer robes of 
great beauty for the Turkish grandees. 1 The town flourished and 
the whole population was busy and happy in the pursuit of their 
beautiful industry. After the Greek revolution the Turkish Gov- 
ernment was tempted by British influence to admit, free of duty, the 
products of European machinery and to permit the export of the raw 
tiftik. This fatal step was the death blow of the town of Angora. 
The whole product, with the exception of twenty thousand pounds 
only, still worked up at home, was exported to England. The looms 
employed were reduced from one thousand two hundred to not more 
than fifty; and the town, although having at its command the raw 
material for a most important and characteristic manufacture, offers 
in its sad decline another monument of the desolating influence of 

1 Southey on Colonial Wools. 



30 



that system which would make the raw material of every country 
tributary to the one great workshop of the world. 

RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS IN ACCLIMATION IN EUROPE AND 
THE UNITED STATES. 

The attention of philanthropic agriculturists in Europe was drawn 
to this race in the last century. The first attempt to appi-opriate the 
race in Europe was made by the Spanish Government, which im- 
ported a flock in 1765, which has disappeared. Next followed the 
importation of the President Tour d'Aigues, who introduced some 
hundred upon the Low Alps in 1787. This experiment of acclima- 
tion appears to have been wholly successful, as this eminent agri- 
culturist declares that although his flocks received no special care, 
they were constantly preserved in good health and accommodated 
themselves as well to the climate as the pasturage. "I can attest," he 
says, "that nothing is easier than to raise and nourish the species; 
they are led to the pastures with the sheep and are fed like them in 
winter. ' ' Towards the end of the last century Louis XVI. imported 
a flock of Angoras to Rambouilet, but this, as well as the flocks of 
Tour d'Aigues, disappeared in consecpience of the revolution. The 
best results were obtained in Spain from the importation of a flock of 
a hundred in 1830 by the King of Spain. M. Graells reports that 
this flock was transported to the mountains of the Escurial where he 
says: "I had occasion to see them for the first time in 1848, that is to 
say, eighteen years after their entry into Castile. At this time the 
flock was composed of two hundred individuals, almost all white. 
The males had a magnificent fleece. The shepherds told me that 
all the primitive individuals had disappeared, and that those which 
lived were born in the country, and that they could be regarded as 
naturalized to the climate, the food and other inherent conditions of 
the central region of Spain. At Huelva there is another flock of 
Angora goats, composed of a hundred head, and from the information 
I have obtained it prospers very well in the mountainous region of 



81 



that province." ' Tlie above extract is instructive as showing (he 
slowness with which this race is multiplied, the primitive flock having 
tripled only in eighteen years. 

In 1854, the Imperial Society of Acclimatation of France resolved 
upon vigorous efforts to appropriate this race. In 1855, it was in 
possession of a flock of ninety-two head. This flock was subdivided 
and placed in different districts in France. But the success was far 
from encouraging. Many died, and those which survived gave fleeces 
which were far from satisfactory. In 1858, all the separate flocks 
were reunited and placed at Souliard in the mountainous and trachy- 
tic district of the Cantal. The animals rapidly recovered their 
health, and were increased without suffering any malady. The 
fleeces were in an admirable condition, and were fabricated into vel- 
vets of such fineness and lustre that it was pronounced that "the 
wool of the Angora goat has been ameliorated in France." The in- 
crease of this flock was disastrously checked by the rigorous winter 
of 1859, and the rainy and damp summer which succeeded. "The 
abundant snows of the winter," says M. Richard, "prevented on the 
one hand the goats from issuing from their stable ; the stabulation 
favored in them a predominance of the lymphatic system. On the 
other hand the showers and the incessant rains of the spring continued 
during the whole summer. The goats, always in a damp atmosphere, 
eating wet grass, contracted as well as the sheep an aqueous cachexy ; a 
third of the animals succumbed from this malady. If energetic means 
had not been employed upon the first symptom of the invasion of the 
affection which was decimating the flock, it is very probable that 
few would have survived. The malady was arrested by a tonic and 
fortifying medication." The flock, reduced from ninety-two head 
in 1855 to seventy in 1862, was at the latter period in good health. 2 

The experience in France, although by no means encouraging in all 
respects, is instructive as indicating the principal cause of the destruc- 



1 Rapport de M. Ramen de la Sagra. Bull. supr. cit., T. I., p. 23. 

2 Sur les anlmaux de la Soci6t6 d'Acclimatation, Par M. Richard (du Cantal). T. 
ix., p. 5. 



32 



tion of the flocks, exposure to a damp climate. The excessive 
climate of the middle and northern districts of this country, the cold 
winters and warm dry summers would seem to indicate these districts 
as most favorable to the acclimation of this species. Experience has 
fully confirmed what might have been assumed a priori. The first 
importation was made in 1849, by Dr. J. B. Davis, of eight Angora 
goats, two bucks and six females. The facts relative to subsequent 
importations and their results are given in the elaborate article of 
Mr. Diehl, which, being readily accessible in the widely circulated 
Agricultural Report of 1863, I need only briefly refer to. Mr. 
Diehl gives the results of his observations of most of the flocks, pro- 
ceeding from some three hundred head imported from Angora, num- 
bering, according to him, several thousand, and scattered mainly 
through the southwestern States, as follows: — 

"We have either personally visited and examined most of the local- 
ities and flocks (mentioned by him), seen or obtained animals or speci- 
mens of the wool, comparing them with what we saw abroad and the 
best specimens of wool to be obtained from abroad, or the best im- 
ported ones, and are well satisfied and thoroughly convinced that we 
have succeeded, and can continue to succeed, in raising this valuable 
wool-bearing animal, with its precious fleece, almost anywhere through- 
out our country where sheep will prosper, especially in the higher 
and colder localities, — producing an animal more hardy, with a heavy 
and more valuable fleece than the Angora or Cashmere itself in its 
own country. The specimens of wool in our possession are more 
silky and fleecy than the imported or original ones." M. Diehl gives 
extracts from original communications of practical stock raisers con- 
firmatory of his statements. It is to be regretted that the value of 
these observations is diminished by the want of accurate discrimination 
between the products of the crosses and animals of pure blood. 



33 



APPLICATION OF PRODUCTS. 



It has been already stated that mohair is not a substitute for wool 
but that it occupies its own place in the textile fabrics. It has the 
aspect, feel and lustre of silk without its suppleness. It differs mate- 
rially from wool in the want of the felting quality, so that the stuffs 
made of it have the fibres distinctly separated and are always bril- 
liant. They do not retain the dust or spots, and are thus particularly 
valuable for furniture goods. The fibre is dyed with great facility 
and is the only textile fibre which takes equally the dyes des- 
tined for all tissues. On account of the stiffness of the fibre it is 
rarely woven alone, that is, when used for the filling, the warp is 
usually of cotton, silk 01 wool, and the reverse. It is not desired 
for its softness in addition to silkiness, such qualities as are found in 
cashmere and Mauchamp wool, but for the elasticity, lustre, and du- 
rability of the fibre with sufficient fineness to enable it to be spun. 
Those who remember the fashions of thirty or forty years ago may 
call to mind the camlets so extensively used for cloaks and other 
outer garments, and will doubtless remember that some were distin- 
guished for their peculiar lustre and durability, which was generally 
attributed to the presence of silk in the tissue. These camlets were 
woven from mohair. Its lustre and durability peculiarly fit this 
material for the manufacture of braids, buttons and bindings, which 
greatly outwear those of silk and wool. The qualities of lustre and 
elasticity particularly fit this material for its chief use, the manufac- 
ture of Utrecht velvets, commonly called furniture plush, the finest 
qualities of which are composed principally of mohair, the pile being 
formed of mohair warps which are cut in the same manner as silk 
warps in velvets. Upon passing the finger lightly over the surface 
of the best mohair plushes the rigidity and elasticity of the fibre will 
be distinctly perceived. The fibre springs back to its original up- 
rightness when any pressure is removed. The best mohair plushes 
are almost indestructible. They have been in constant use on certain 
railroad cars in the country for over twenty years without wearing 
out. They are now sought by all the best railroads in the country 
3 



34 



as the most enduring of all coverings, an unconscious tribute to the 
remarkable qualities of this fibre. The manufacture of Utrecht vel- 
vets at Amiens in France consumes five hundred thousand pounds of 
mohair, which is spun in England. Ten thousand workmen were 
employed in weaving these goods at Amiens in 1855, the product 
being principally sent to the United States. The mohair plushes 
are made of yarns from No. 26 to No. 70, the tissues made of the 
former number are worth four francs per metre and of the latter ten 
francs per metre, showing the importance of preserving the fineness 
of the fleece. A medium article is made extensively in Prussia, of 
yarns spun from an admixture of mohair with combing wool, but it is 
wanting in the evenness of surface and brilliant reflections or bloom 
of the French goods. Mohair yarn is employed largely in Paris, 
Nismes, Lyons and Germany for the manufacture of laces, which are 
substituted for the silk lace fabrics of Valenciennes and Chantilly. 
The shawls frequently spoken of as made of Angora wool, are of a 
lace texture and do not correspond to the cashmere or Indian shawls. 
The shawls known as llama shawls are made of mohair. I have seen 
one at Stewart's wholesale establishment valued at eighty dollars, 
weighing only two and one third ounces. Mohair is also largely 
consumed at Bradford in England in the fabrication of fight summer 
dress goods. They are woven with warps of silk and cotton, princi- 
pally the latter, and the development of this manufacture is due 
principally to the improvements in making fine cotton warps, the 
combination of wool with mohair not being found advantageous. 
These goods are distinguished by their lustre and by the rigidity 
of the fabric. All the mohair yarns used in Europe are spun in 
England, the English having broken down by temporary reduction of 
prices all attempts at spinning in France. Successful experiments 
in spinning and weaving Angora fabrics have been made in this 
country, as shown by the samples of yarns spun by Mr. Cameron 
and the dress goods spun and woven by Mr. Fay of the Lowell 
Manufacturing Company from Angora wool grown by Mr. Chenery 
at Belmont. 

Before the demand of this material for dress goods and plushes, 



85 



mohair was largely used in Europe and this country for lastings for 
fine broadcloths, the lustrous surface acting as a frame in a picture 
to set off the goods. This use is now abandoned. Mohair is now 
extensively used to form the pile of certain styles of plushes used for 
ladies' cloakings, also for the pile of the best fabrics styled Astrakans. 
Narrow strips of the skin of the Angora with the fleece attached 
have been recently in fashion for trimmings, and great prices were 
obtained for a limited number of the pelts for this purpose. The skins 
with the fleeces attached will always bring high prices for foot rugs, 
on account of their peculiar lustre and the advantages they possess 
over those made of wool, in not being liable to felt. 

Nearly all the raw mohair of commerce is at present consumed by 
a very few manufacturers in England, who first commenced spinning 
in 1835, at the suggestion of Mr. Southey, and soon excluded the 
Turkish yarns by the superiority and evenness of their yarns. The 
enormous works of Mr. Salt in England were erected in 1853, mainly 
for the manufacture of mohair and alpaca fabrics. 1 The annual 
exports of mohair from Turkey as well as other instructive facts are 
given in the following letter from a leading wool and commercial 
house in New York, obtained at my request. 

New Yobk, December 7, 1867. 

Messrs. G. W. Bond & Co., Boston, — 
Dear Sirs : — Agreeably with the request of your Mr. G. W. Bond, we beg 

herewith to hand you all the information we have regarding mohair or goats' 

wool. 

Good mohair (Angora goat) is not known as an article of commerce anywhere 

but in Asia Minor. It is received from Asia Minor in bales varying from one 

hunched and fifty to two hundred pounds in weight, as most convenient, each 

fleece carefully rolled up and tightly packed. The exports from Turkey are as 

follows : — 

1850 12,884 bales. 

1860 11,902 " 

1861 16,592 " 

1862 17,706 " 

1863 14,812 " 

1864 19,761 " 

1865 27,641 " 

1866 22,068 " 

1 Tide Janes's History of the Worsted Manufactures. 



36 



We have seen samples of goats' wool grown in South Africa and this country, 
but they had degenerated, becoming coarser, and losing the lustre and silky 
appearance which gives the staple most of its value. It is consumed by less 
than a dozen houses in Europe ; in fact, one firm consumes about one-third of 
the whole supply, and has agents in Turkey choosing the same. It is a very 
peculiar article; either everybody wants it, or no one will touch it. There 
seems to be no steadiness in the trade ; but the demand is seldom in abeyance 
for more than four months at a time. Large buyers have avoided it for some 
time, therefore stocks have accumulated to a considerable but not excessive 
extent. 

About two years ago the price was up to nearly ninety-six cents gold, and 
fell, after long inaction, to about fifty to fifty-four cents gold per pound for super, 
white Constantinople : but even at this price there is very little demand. The 
value for second-class locky lots is always very uncertain. It forms, however 
only a trifling portion of the exports, and will fetch about twenty to thirty cents 
gold, per pound. 

Fawn, a dark gray mohair, with long staple, is usually saleable at twenty- 
four cents gold to thirty cents currency. There is also a fair kind of brown 
mohair, but shorter and more cbtted, that we think sells best in France at prices 
between twenty to thirty cents gold. The terms on which this article is sold 
in the market are cash in one month less five per cent, discount ; England, tares 
actual and one pound draft per cwt. Yours faithfully, 

Bauendahl & Co. 

I have ascertained from other sources that the price of mohair in 
England of late years has been about double that of the best English 
combing wools. 

RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 

Experience in Europe, confirmed, by observations in this country, 
has demonstrated the practicability of the acclimation of this race 
under favorable conditions of climate, without degeneracy of the 
fleeces. There are districts in this country possessing climate, tem- 
perature and hygrometric conditions, corrresponding to those observed 
in Asia Minor and Europe as favorable to the culture of this race. 
The Angora goat and the domestic goat of Europe and this country 
having descended from separate sources, the obtaining of good results 
from the crosses of these two races is theoretically improbable, and is 
demonstrated to be so by the best experience in Europe. The nor- 
mal fibre desired for the textile arts is only to be found in flocks of 
the perfectly pure race, and perhaps in flocks bred back to the stand- 



37 



ard of the pure race by crosses of a perfectly pure buck with the 
black Asiatic goats of the same race. It is desirable that importa- 
tions should be made of the black female Kurd goat of Asia Minor, 
for crossing with the pure white bucks. There is evidence of great 
weight in favor of good results from such cases. 

Systematic measures of acclimation must always be impeded by the 
eagerness of breeders for sale to obtain merchantable results. The 
appropriation of this race is of sufficient importance to deserve the 
earnest attention of the Government, as the best races of the merino 
sheep have been only secured through the persevering and disinter- 
ested efforts of governments in Europe. In the absence of any 
national society for acclimation in this country, a deficiency which 
ought not long to exist, the department of agriculture, under its pres- 
ent vigorous and intelligent head, offers the best means of securing the 
desired results. The cost of a single Rodman gun would secure a 
magnificent flock to serve for prolonged experiment and as a model to 
our agriculturists. Producers cannot expect to obtain remunerating 
prices for their fleeces until the manufacture of mohair fabrics is estab- 
lished in this country. It must be years before a sufficient supply is 
grown here to occupy a single mill. The fleeces of over ten thousand 
sheep are consumed every week in the single establishment of the 
Pacific Mills. It is probable that there will be a demand for all that 
can be grown for some time, for yarns for braids, and for Astrakhan 
cloakings which are being made in Rhode Island. The demand for 
animals of the pure race will increase without reference to the value 
of the fleeces. There are enough agriculturists of taste and wealth 
in this country who will readily pay large prices for these docile and 
beautiful animals simply as ornaments for their farms. 

I am convinced that the greatest obstacle to the permanent acquisi- 
tion of new resources from any department of nature is exaggerated 
expectations as to their value and facility of acquirement. Our im- 
patient countrymen need to be reminded that real progress is the 
offspring not only of human effort but of time, and that of acclima- 
tion especially it may be said : Non solum humani ingenii sed tem- 
poris quoque Jilia est. There is encouragement however in the fact 



38 



that the fruits of decades or centuries in older countries are matured 
here in years. In how brief a time has this vast country been stocked 
with all the animal wealth which Europe had to bestow! How 
rapidly have we appropriated all the best ovine and bovine races of 
the old world ! Within half a century we have spread the merino 
sheep over all the prairies of the West, and within a less period have 
acquired and perfected the cattle of the Durham short horn breed 
and even sent them back to ameliorate the parent stock in England. 
The hope then is not vain that the precious race, whose slow march 
westward we have traced from the remote East, may at no distant time 
be fully secured for the western world. 



